


Take My Hand

by ShowMeAHero



Series: Lightning in a Bottle [13]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Domestic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Family, Family Feels, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, Light Angst, M/M, Magic, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 09:16:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15771141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShowMeAHero/pseuds/ShowMeAHero
Summary: Kravitz gets hit with a spell. Taako loses his cool. Wyatt shows off a little.





	Take My Hand

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt from Lauryn.
> 
> The title was taken from ["(Don't Fear) The Reaper"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy4HA3vUv2c) by Blue Öyster Cult.

Kravitz is out on a bounty that was  _ supposed  _ to be easy. Emphasis on the  _ supposed,  _ because he went alone, without Barry or Lup, because it seemed like he wouldn’t actually need any help. He’s been doing this job for a long,  _ long  _ time without either of them; he can handle himself just fine when they’re not there.

At least,  _ normally,  _ he can. Back-up isn’t a bad idea, especially now that he’s engaged in a twelve-on-one fight with a group of cult members who are bearing down on him, hard. He’s taking them out as fast as he can, but they’re starting to close in on him, and he’s starting to think it would just be better to slip into the Astral Plane and come back another day when a spell hits him in the chest. It feels like it’s eating away at him, and he tries to switch into his bone form so he’ll start healing, but he can’t get all the way into it.

“Shit,” Kravitz says, and he takes out his scythe and slices it through four people at once. A group of them turn and start to run, and he strikes them down out of adrenaline alone. As soon as they’re all gone, he tries to shift into his bone form again, but it doesn’t work. He’s trapped in his human form, and his chest feels like it’s blistering. When he looks down, he’s actually— he’s  _ bleeding,  _ which he hasn’t done in a very long time.

“Oh, shit,” Kravitz says again. He opens up a portal that he hopes is to the Astral Plane and forces himself through it, stumbling through and eating it on the ground on the other side. He feels grass against his face and inside of his mouth, and he groans, because there’s  _ no way _ this is the Astral Plane.

“Holy fucking Christ,” Taako shouts, and Kravitz tries to get his hands under himself so he can force himself into a sitting position. He fails and slides onto his side, and then there are hands on his head.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Magnus says above him. When Magnus moves him so he’s sitting up against his chest in the grass of Taako’s garden, Kravitz can see that Taako is rounding up the kids and ushering them inside. He leaves them with Angus, it looks like, before he comes back over to Kravitz and kneels down beside him.

“Look at me,” Taako says. Kravitz does, and Taako touches his face with one soft, small hand. “I cast  _ Heal.” _

Nothing happens. Taako’s brow furrows. He moves his hand over Kravitz’s face and casts  _ Heal  _ again, and nothing happens, again.

“Why isn’t he healing?” Magnus asks, voice a little frantic. Taako looks up at him.

“I don’t know,” Taako says. “I’m— I’m gonna go get Lup.”

Before Magnus can reply, Taako’s on his feet, running back into the house. Magnus looks down into Kravitz’s face, stroking his cheek, holding his head close to his chest. Kravitz exhales shakily, closes his eyes, and Magnus buries his face in his hair.

“You’re going to be okay,” Magnus tells him, but his voice is fast and high and Kravitz can feel his heart pounding in his chest.

“Sorry,” Kravitz manages, and Magnus just shakes his head, running one hand up and down Kravitz’s back.

“Don’t you ever apologize to me,” Magnus says. “Don’t— I didn’t even know you could get hurt.”

“I just need to get into the Astral Plane,” Kravitz tells him. Magnus looks up as Lup and Barry run outside, Barry sliding to his knees beside Kravitz and immediately putting his hands over Kravitz’s chest, tugging his robes and shirts open and examining his chest. There’s a strange crossed mark dug into his flesh, and it’s oozing blood he didn’t know he had to bleed, and he still can’t shift into his skeleton form.

“I don’t recognize this,” Barry says. Lup leans over his shoulder, examining it from above. She frowns, and Taako comes back outside.

“I have no idea,” Lup says. Taako motions to them, motioning them up.

“Alright, the kids are in the nursery. Magnus, I want you to bring him inside, put him on the couch, and Lup, I want you to go and get Merle.” As Magnus stands, dragging Kravitz up into his arms. Kravitz goes, clinging to Magnus so he won’t fall to the ground. “Barry, you come with me, you’re going to help me brew a healing potion.”

“Got it,” Lup says, cracking through the veil between their home and Merle’s. Magnus carries Kravitz easily into their house, taking him into the living room, laying him down gingerly on the sofa. Kravitz can hear Wyatt screaming down the hall, but he doesn’t have enough time or energy to focus on it. Magnus sits on the arm of the couch, running his hand over Kravitz’s hair, while Kravitz listens to Taako and Barry rustle around in the kitchen.

“What can I do?” Magnus asks. Kravitz shakes his head.

“Barry,” Kravitz says. Magnus lifts his head.

“Barry, he’s asking for you,” Magnus calls, and Barry’s at his side in moments, kneeling next to the couch.

“What’s up?” Barry asks.

“I need you to bring me into the Astral Plane,” Kravitz says. Barry nods and straightens up, cutting a hole to the Astral Plane. Kravitz reaches for the portal, but finds he can’t reach through it. He frowns, and Barry takes one step into it, motioning Kravitz forward.

“Do you need me to carry you?” Magnus asks, already on his feet. Kravitz frowns, shaking his head, trying to stand to get through the veil. The portal blocks him, like a glass wall: he can see through it, but can’t pass through it.

“Something’s wrong,” Kravitz says. There’s a hand on his shoulder, and when he looks back, it’s Taako, tugging him backwards to lay back down on the sofa. Kravitz looks up at him, and hears again Wyatt still screaming down the hall, sounding like he’s sobbing while Angus shouts over him.

“Drink this,” Taako says, handing him a jar. Kravitz can’t get his hand to wrap around it, so Taako comes around the sofa, holds Kravitz’s head against his chest and tips the jar back against his lips. He helps Kravitz drink the whole disgusting thing. The veil rips back into the room, and then Lup’s hurtling back through, hauling Merle along with her.

“Cast  _ Heal,”  _ Lup tells him, shoving Merle towards the sofa. Kravitz looks up at him, feeling like all of the energy is leaking out of the throbbing hole in his chest, and Merle frowns down at him. He takes the Extreme Teen Bible, presses it to Kravitz’s forehead, and casts  _ Heal. _

“Oh, this isn’t going to work,” Merle says.

“Why the  _ fuck not,”  _ Taako snaps, voice breaking halfway through, and Kravitz tips his head back to look at him.

“He’s not actually alive to begin with,” Merle reminds him. “I have no idea how to heal him, whatever he is.”

“I don’t care about  _ whatever he is,  _ he’s Kravitz,” Taako exclaims. He turns away, grabbing at his own hair. “I’m gonna— I’m gonna go see why the fuck Wyatt’s crying, I’m— Barry, try stitching him up, we’ll fix him like we’d fix anyone else.”

Taako leaves the room, and Magnus keeps stroking Kravitz’s head. Kravitz exhales shakily. Merle casts  _ Heal  _ again, but it still doesn’t work, and when Kravitz looks up at Magnus, he’s crying. Barry comes back from the bathroom with the first aid chest and starts cleaning and packing the wounds in Kravitz’s chest. Kravitz can feel the magic eating away at his life-force.

“Give me the needle,” Lup says, and Barry hands up the needle and sterile threads to Lup. Lup starts stitching Kravitz’s skin together, but the stitches fall out as she’s moving. She tries to go faster, but it’s not working.

The crying continues, and then gets closer as Taako comes back into the room with Wyatt on his hip. Taako’s face is flushed and his eyes are red, and Wyatt’s sobbing and screaming bloody murder. Taako comes back over to check on Kravitz, presumably, and as soon as Wyatt sees Kravitz, he falls silent and reaches for him.

“Baby, no,” Taako says, softly. Wyatt almosts falls to the floor trying to reach out of Taako’s grasp. Taako caves, putting Wyatt down on the floor, and Wyatt clambers up onto the sofa, over Kravitz’s legs, up onto his hips.

“Don’t—” Magnus starts to say, but Taako waves him off, pushing him back lightly.

“No, wait,” Taako says. Kravitz watches Wyatt as he settles at Kravitz’s waist, putting his dimpled little baby hands on Kravitz’s chest. The blood oozes over Wyatt’s hands, and he frowns, tiny face crumpling as he stares down at Kravitz’s chest. In the next moment, Kravitz’s chest stops hurting.

“It’s working,” Kravitz gasps, hand shooting up to hold Wyatt in place. Wyatt’s focus narrows in on Kravitz’s chest, and the blood starts moving backwards, sliding back into Kravitz’s chest. The stitches Lup had managed to get in fall out, and the skin knits itself back together under Wyatt’s hands. By the time he’s done, there’s a tiny flash, and then Kravitz is whole, unmarked, and feeling no pain at all. He stares at Wyatt in shock.

“What the fuck was that?” Merle asks. Wyatt scoots up Kravitz’s chest and puts his small, bloody hands on either side of Kravitz’s face. His legs are bloody, too, from Kravitz’s chest, and he presses his face into Kravitz’s cheek, sliding their skin together. He nuzzles into Kravitz’s face, then his neck, hugging him tightly. Kravitz rubs Wyatt’s back, then tugs him in, holding him close, embracing him just as tightly as Wyatt’s holding him.

“Wyatt’s, like, a demigod or something,” Magnus says tiredly. Kravitz looks up at Magnus, and his face is red and his eyes are wet and he’s pointedly staring at the fireplace. “We don’t— It’s a whole thing.”

“He has reaper magic,” Merle says. “Wow, that’s cool. You should have more of him.”

“Working on it,” Taako says. He sits on the edge of the couch next to Kravitz and strokes his fingers through Wyatt’s hair. Kravitz shifts, turning his face into Taako’s side. “Don’t scare me like that, bones. You freaked me out.”

“Sorry,” Kravitz murmurs. Taako stops stroking Wyatt’s hair to turn Kravitz’s face up.

“You better be,” Taako says. “You shouldn’t go anywhere without Lup and Barry anymore. In fact,” he says, lifting his head, raising his voice, “nobody goes  _ anywhere  _ alone anymore, you hear?”

“Taako—” Lup starts to say, but Taako shakes his head, standing up.

“No, that’s it,” Taako says. “That’s  _ it,  _ I don’t want anybody else getting hurt and if we just— pull together some buddy system, we’ll be fine.” He runs his hands through his hair, then exhales sharply. “I’m gonna— I'm gonna go check on Ango. I’ll be right back.”

Taako’s gone before Kravitz can say anything, Wyatt watching him leave with a frown on his face. Magnus kneels down beside the couch.

“Sorry about him,” Magnus says. “You know how he gets. I’ll talk to him.”

“On it,” Lup says, jogging out of the living room. Kravitz’s chest hurts for an entirely different reason, and he holds Wyatt a little closer, gripping him a little tighter. Magnus pulls them both in and holds them for a long, long time. Kravitz can’t see his face, but Magnus is big and warm and Kravitz feels safe and comfortable there.

“Do you guys have any sandwiches?” Merle asks, and Kravitz can hear Barry shuffling him out of the room. Magnus just holds Kravitz and Wyatt against him. They’re at a weird angle, but Kravitz isn’t about to move; Magnus is open with his affection all the time, but sometimes it’s hard for Kravitz to let himself receive it.

“I love you guys,” Magnus says, quietly. He pulls back a little and rubs his thumb under Wyatt’s eye. He kisses Wyatt’s forehead, then presses his temple to Kravitz’s cheek. “Don’t scare us like that, man, that freaked me the fuck out. Good thing Wyatt’s a genie or whatever.”

“He’s not a genie,” Kravitz says. He hears light footsteps in the hall, and he can’t look up in time before Taako’s there, wriggling in between Kravitz and Magnus on the couch. Kravitz puts one arm around him, holds him close, and Magnus just shifts to allow the space.

“Sorry,” Taako says softly. Kravitz buries his face in Taako’s hair, and the smell is so comforting and wonderful, the same scent Taako always has on him that makes him settle into himself, makes his muscles relax. Taako wraps himself around Kravitz, and Wyatt pats Taako’s face. “You scared me. I don’t really think of you as somebody who can get hurt.”

“It was an outlier,” Kravitz assures him. Magnus snorts. “It  _ was.  _ It won’t happen again. It’s rarely happened in the time I’ve been doing this.”

_ “Rarely  _ isn’t  _ never,”  _ Taako says. Magnus shrugs.

“It’s still a pretty good track record,” Magnus says, and Taako elbows him.

“You’re not helping,” Taako says.

“Well, he’s pretty good at his job, he doesn’t need us telling him how to do it,” Magnus tells him.

“He  _ should  _ be bringing Barry and Lup with him,” Taako shoots back.

_ “He’s _ right here,” Kravitz reminds them. Taako lifts his head and kisses him, and Kravitz makes a small sound involuntarily. “I’m really fine. Usually I can summon the Raven Queen once I’m in my skeletal form, I was just having a hard time shifting.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Taako says.

“We’ll help more next time,” Magnus says.

“Yes,” Wyatt adds. Kravitz laughs, pulling Wyatt in closer. rolling him back.

“Thank  _ you,”  _ Kravitz says. “The Raven Queen will be especially proud of you tonight. You’ve done excellent work.”

“Yes,” Wyatt repeats. Kravitz pushes their foreheads together and holds him there for a moment, letting them share breath for a bit. Wyatt wraps his fat little arms around Kravitz’s neck and squeezes, pressing his face into Kravitz’s cheek. Kravitz just holds his son there for a long, long while, settling in, Taako and Magnus still pressed up against his side.

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any requests for this series, let me know!
> 
> I also actually wrote two books! It was a long road but, I did it! Ta-da! If you want to read either of them, shoot me a message!
> 
> I have a blog now to request imagines - I just like to make people happy. Submit requests [here!](https://imagine-in-the-fandoms.tumblr.com/ask)
> 
> You can follow me on Twitter at [@nicolelianesolo](https://twitter.com/nicoIodeon) or on Tumblr at [andillwriteyouatragedy](http://andillwriteyouatragedy.tumblr.com/).


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